The fifth taste, umami, has much to do with glutamate, an amino acid found in such foods as prosciutto, soy sauce and a number of cheeses. Umami can show up in your glass, too (fermentation is glutamate’s old friend).

When this recipe originally ran in The Globe and Mail, I received a lovely note from reader Barbara Zuchowicz. This dish reminded her of a wonderful meal she had in Italy: "It brought back joyful memories of a trip to Italy my late husband, an exceptional cook, and I took a number of years ago.

Leftovers of this light-textured, not too sweet, flavourful, health- conscious cake are superb warmed for breakfast. You can also bake it as muffins.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp finely chopped ginger

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup dried cranberries

1 tbsp grated lemon rind

1½ cups all-purpose flour (spooned in and levelled off)

½ cup bran

½ cup quick-cooking oats

¼ tsp baking soda

1½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs, beaten

1 cup buttermilk

Glaze:

2 cups icing sugar

¼ cup buttermilk

¼ cup chopped candied ginger

Method

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 9-inch cake pan and line the base with parchment paper. Set aside.

Place ginger, ¼ cup sugar and lemon juice in a small pot over medium heat and simmer, stirring, until sugar has melted and mixture is hot. Remove from heat and stir in cranberries and lemon rind. Reserve.

Combine flour, bran, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

Beat together butter and remaining ¾ cup sugar using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs slowly and beat well. Beat in half of fl our mixture, then buttermilk, then remaining flour mixture and beat until combined. Stir in cranberry mixture.

Spoon batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let pan cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan, peel off parchment paper and allow to cool fully on a cooling rack.

Whisk together icing sugar and buttermilk until it forms a thin icing. Drizzle over cake in a cross-hatch pattern and sprinkle with chopped candied ginger.